William The Breton
WILLIAM THE BRETON (c. n6o-c. 1225), French chronicler and poet, was as bis name indicates born in Brittany. He was educated at Mantes and at the university of Paris, afterwards becoming chaplain to the French king Philip Augustus, who employed him on diplomatic errands, and entrusted him with the education of his natural son, Pierre Chariot. William is supposed to have been present at the battle of Bouvines. His works are the Philippide and the Gesta Philippi II. regis Fran- ' coruin. The forme'', a poem three versions of which were written by the author, gives some very interesting details about Philip Augustus and his time, including some information about military matters and shows that William was an excellent Latin scholar. In its final form the Gesta is an abbreviation of the work of Rigord (g.r.), who wrote a life of Philip Augustus from 1179 to 1206, and a continuation by William himself from 1207 to 1 2 20. In both works William speaks in very laudatory terms of the king; but his writings are valuable because he had personal knowledge of many of the facts which he relates. He also v/rote a poem Karlotis, dedicated to Pierre Chariot, which is lost.
William's works have been edited with introduction by H. F. Delaborde as CEuvres de Rigord el de Guillaume le Breton (Paris, 1882-1885), an d have been translated into French by Guizot in Collection des memoires relatifs & I'histoire de France, tomes xi. and xii. (Paris, 1823-1835). See Delaborde's introduction, and A. Molinier, Les Sources de I'histoire de France, tome iii. (Paris, 1903).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
